Relative of Colorado man who allegedly shot people from his car, injuring 3, "not surprised" it happened
A relative of a 34-year-old man accused of shooting several people in Aurora says she is "shocked, but not surprised" to hear of the charges. She's now hoping he never has the chance to hurt people again.
The shootings happened late last month. Police say they believe Austin Benson was driving through a southeastern section of the Colorado city on June 27 and chose his victims at random. Three people wound up getting shot and injured.
"I do want to see justice served," Benson's family member said. She asked to remain anonymous.
"It's not fair. There are people fighting for their lives," she said, referring to the three victims.
Since Benson's arrest, CBS News Colorado has learned Benson carried out a similar attack in the past. Benson faced charges in 2018 of allegedly attempting to shoot several people in Douglas County. That happened on Rampart Range Road. Those crimes were later dismissed -- in 2023 -- after a judge found Benson incompetent to stand trial.
It's because he never went to prison that the relative said she isn't surprised by what police say happened last week.
"If you have an individual who is found to not be competent and cannot be restored to competency, you have a dilemma then of 'Where do we put this person?' in the meantime. Because what we're talking about is a person who has a mental disability," said former prosecutor and legal expert Karen Steinhauser. Steinhauser says in cases like this that doesn't always mean sending an individual to the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo.
"Generally judges try to do the least restrictive types of places but a lot of it is going to depend on the evaluation that is done, whether it's the state hospital doing the evaluation, and a determination of what the possible safety risk is," Steinhauser said.
Multiple evaluations were done between 2020 and 2022, with conflicting conclusions as to whether or not Benson was mentally competent or if his competency could be restored. Some reports stated Benson had a traumatic brain injury and was suffering from seizures believed to be associated with ongoing stress from the legal proceedings.
Benson had only been in outpatient restoration education between October 2021 through March 2022.
"Part of the problem is, just like anything, our mental health system is so overburdened. I remember when I was a prosecutor we had people who were sitting at the county jail who were found to be incompetent and were sitting at the conty jail for months on end waiting for a bed space at the state hospital. And the longer they waited at the county jail, the more they deteriorated," Steinhauser said.
"Should there be more beds at the state hospital? Absolutely. Should there be more evaluators? Absolutely. Should there be more places that are secured where people can go to be restored to competency, always," Steinhauser said.
While the system remains strained, the family member hopes that it does what it should.
"I hope he gets a judge that's going to take a closer look at it and be like 'Okay, even if you are mentally ill, what can we do to help you and what can we do to keep you safe from yourself as well as safe from the public?'" she said.
